Run! No ... STOP!

So if you happen to have been friends with me on Facebook or followed me on Instagram you’ll be aware that over the last couple of years in particular I’ve been doing a fair bit of running. I’ve always run a bit here and there and when I started travelling a lot for work a couple of years ago, started running more consistently to offset the travel food if nothing else.

I found that it helped with balancing out the stress of work as well, breaking up the day so that it was more than go to work, go to hotel, eat, sleep, repeat. It meant that I saw more of the places that I was visiting too.  I never really had much of an aim other than where I would get involved in the Annual City to Bay fun run in Adelaide. At 12kms long, I’d always wanted to achieve a sub 60 minute time. 2011 was my first attempt after returning from Canada and I ran it in 63:37 minutes. The following year I bought my first Garmin device so that I could track speed and train and take it a bit more seriously. I ran 12kms in pretty much exactly 60 minutes, but the total distance I’d run was 12.2km because let’s face it, there’s lots of dodging around in a big event and the distances aren’t quite that precise. That left my time as 60:46. I’d missed it by 46 seconds.2013 proved to be the year though. I finally nailed the goal it! 59:15! 45 seconds to spare.

In 2014 Thomas ran with me and I wasn’t prepared (neither was he) so we only did the 6km version of the event. The next two years coincided with soccer cup finals that I was involved in and so I didn’t run. In 2017 I had my narrowest ever miss on the 60 mins. Despite the fact that I’d been doing a lot of running, I finished in a time of 60:04 minutes, missing by just 4 seconds the chance to have a sub 60 bib for the following year.

Something else happened in the last couple of years though. I ran further. In 2016 during a trip to Perth I ran 15km one night just to run further than I ever had before. Then later that year in Melbourne on a night of possible insanity I ran my first ever half marathon distance. That fed my desire to run that far during an actual event. In 2016 I did that in Adelaide during the Adelaide marathon festival. I wasn’t sure what time would be achievable and just went out and ran it, amazing myself when I turned in a time of 1:44:03 meaning I’d run sub 5 minute kilometres for the whole race!

In 2017 I backed that up and decided to run again, but injured myself playing soccer the day before the event. When I walked off the soccer field I didn’t think I’d be able to. After hosting the team and indulging in more red wine than I should have I decided to see how things went and totally expected to pull out after 2kms. Once I again I surpassed expectations and not only finished, but did so in a time of 1:49:31.

At the end of the 2017 soccer season I tore my hamstring off the bone and wondered if I’d even be able to run. I spent the summer in the gym building strength in the remaining muscles, working toward the goal of at least running and at best, actually managing to play soccer again.

So when the marathon festival rolled around again this year I decided to prove to myself once again that I could go the distance, that I’d built things back up to the point that I could do it. I ran into my physio a week before the event and announced excitedly that I’d signed up and was going to run it. I was expecting him to be excited for me and be pleased with being able to do it, but that wasn’t quite the reaction that I received. I’m pretty sure that although he didn’t outright say it, he thought it was too early for me to be trying the distance given I’d only run a single 15km distance all year. I ran it in 1:46:48, once again surpassing all my expectations!

This year’s City to Bay saw the introduction of the half marathon event for the first time and so I gave up chasing the sub 60 time and decided to be part of that event for the first time. I started with dreams of a PB, but in the end couldn’t find it in the back third of the run, but was very happy with a finish time of 1:46:23.

After that, I finished out the soccer season, destroyed a groin, retired from our competitive teams (I’ll write about that one day) and decided to just run.

As the year has worn on though I’ve struggled to maintain momentum. I’ve felt that my runs have been slowing down and I was starting to lose the will to push myself through to 10kms which had become my standard run length.

On top of that my feet were starting to give me hell. They’d been hurting all year after running and soccer and I’d put it down to bruising of the heel. But lately it was getting to the point that it was way more painful than it should have been just to stand up in the morning and my feet would ache if I sat for too long, resulting in me hobbling about like a senior citizen. But I’d set a goal for myself to run at least 1200kms this year and I was at 1100 at the end of November. I just needed to run 100kms more to achieve the goal. I gave it one more go, but the outcome wasn’t good. I was barely able to walk the following day.

I finally went to a doctor about it two weeks ago and was diagnosed with Planter Faciatis. I’ve been told not to run.

I’d been thinking for a while as my will to run longer waned and the pain increased, that at 48 years old, the days of cracking PBs were probably behind me. I have to say though that being told not to run wasn’t the way I wanted to give up on such things. I’d been thinking that perhaps in my 50^th year I’d run a full marathon now that I’m not committing to the competitive level of soccer I’ve been playing at. But now I’ve been told no running.

I’m in a new job and I’m travelling to new (and familiar) places where there’s some great spots for running and instead I’m reduced to a stroll. It’s a very strange frustration because let’s face it, running 10kms isn’t exactly enjoyable. It’s more a sense of achievement after the fact rather than enjoying the effort of getting there.

So now I walk and wait. Some day I’ll probably even run again, but until then, it might be time to pull out the bike and find some goggles!

Belatedly 18 and the end of school

Things have been a bit chaotic recently and despite meaning to sit down and write something, life has been in the way. But I have some time and so it’s worthy of spending a couple of those minutes putting a marker in the ground.

Thomas has turned 18. Not only that, he’s finished school as well. Thomas turning 18 filled me with a little more trepidation than his brothers, probably because he was so obviously keen for the event and the fact that it marked his entry into adulthood. And legal access to alcohol. Given the proximity of that event to the commencement of his final school exams. The planning for the 18^th party kicked of pretty early and certainly seemed to be attracting more attention than some of the school work.

The party went off without a hitch, a good time was had and no police were called and Thomas even remembers it. Mission accomplished.

Thomas had come along way in the last two years. It seems that since moving schools at the start of Year 10 he’s really come into his own and found himself and has a great group of friends. He’s continued with his refereeing and this year was named in the talent development squad which was a nice piece of recognition. At lease being able to drive himself to games has meant that our taxi duties have been significantly reduced. It’s put some good cash in his pocket, but also really helped him to mature as he deals with all the different personalities one encounters during a football season. You know that he’s embraced the role when he tells you how many red cards he’s issued not to mention coaches that he has ejected from games!

The passion for computer games remains while the juggling and card tricks have taken a back seat. There were times when I lamented the fact that I never seemed to be able to bust him studying no matter what surprise tactics I employed, but he assures me that the study really did happen and we just have to hope now that the evidence is borne out when the results come through.

Rather than doing schoolies he’s heading off to a rented shack with a group of friends from school and then eagerly awaiting his first Temby new years event where he will be legally allowed to partake of the grog without fear of repercussions from the parentals. We’ll have to see if he manages to make it to midnight or whether misplaced enthusiasm does him in early. Hopefully it will be the former.

So as we sit and wait for the results and Uni offers we look forward to Christmas, the New Year and a celebratory trip to Japan to indulge in some skiing. We’re extremely proud of Thomas and the young man that he’s becoming and wish him the very best for the next stage beyond school.

Fifteen

Every time I sit down to write one of these things, the temptation is to start with "it's hard to believe that this kid is this old." Probably because it's true.

Emily has today turned fifteen. It's a scary proposition to have your youngest entering the back end of high school. I've been conscious along the journey with the kids so far of not wishing life away. It's wonderful to celebrate the milestones as they get older and sometimes it's truly joyous to see them in the rear vision mirror. The temptation is of course to look forward and want to knock the next one off the list. As the youngest goes through her paces though I find myself wishing this less and less, because every time that she achieves one, it's the last time for Caroline and I as parents (Because there's no way I'm going back to start again!) I'm sure before too long we'll be watching them all start to move out of home and wondering what we used to do with our lives.

To Emily though. Emily has had a good time over the last 12 months.

She has done extremely well at school and it's always nice when she takes pride in her achievements. She may groan about the fact that she got stuck in the top maths class, but I think she is secretly (and justifiably) proud of the achievement.

I can't say that I know exactly what Emily might be looking at doing beyond school, but given she's in year ten she's far from an orphan in that regard. It's the first time that they've had elective subjects though I don't know that they gave any particular insight into where she might end up. She's talking about following in Michael and Sam's footsteps in terms of tackling IB in her last two years, so we'll have to see how that pans out and influences her future decisions. With so many options these days, I wonder if anyone get's it right straight out of the gate off high school.

One thing that has happened recently is that Emily has joined the choir. She's always sung around the house and enjoyed her music, but any suggestion of joining a choir or doing anything signing wise with the school to date has been met with a certain level of scorn (she's exceptional at that - you won't die wondering what Emily thinks on a topic!)  But this year apparently one of her teachers has suggested that she do so and she's actually joined. I'm looking forward to whatever opportunity eventually presents itself to hear her perform. It's certainly influenced some of the things she's been caught singing around the house compared to her usual fare.

Sports wise she has indulged in tennis, table tennis, netball and softball, making finals in both softball and tennis. The Softball fell short of the ultimate goal, but the tennis team plays in their grand final this coming weekend, so hopefully she gets that sweet taste of victory.

Emily remains enamoured with her fan fiction, continuing to both read it excessively and write her own which if anything makes buying a book for her a challenging prospect. I'll never complain that she's reading though.

All in all, Emily is developing into an intelligent, beautiful, strong-willed woman and I look forward to see the mark that she makes upon the world. I'm grateful that she's lucky enough to be entering into it at a time when we're making more and more progress towards equity so that she can hopefully achieve all that she dreams of.

Happy Birthday Em.